Inamo Soho

Rating: 3/10

So what makes this place unique is that you are meant to be able to order everything (including the bill) electronically from a user interface built into the table. "Great!" I think, because I have been in so many restaurants where you basically have to do a whole song and dance routine to get the waiter's attention, especially when you are in a hurry to get the bill, pay and get the hell out!

I had high hopes of an efficient ordering and bill delivery mechanism, and of delicious Asian food (probably my favourite food), but my hopes were systematically dashed.

My husband and I had the prepaid pre-theatre meal (soup, small plate and large plate for £13.99 booked through a third party). We were told that they would bring out our dishes when ready, not unlike Wagamama, I suppose, and if the food had come out within Wagamama time frames I would not have been too upset.

But lets go back a step or two.

Having being seated (this venue was a little small, so the tables were quite close together), the hostess explained to us how to order, etc. This was fine, and we managed the system easily, finding it quite intuitive, however I think the touch pad could have been more responsive as it did feel a bit clunky.

After ordering I noticed a bit of spilled soy sauce on the table that had not been cleaned up properly after the last patrons had left and called for service using their electronic interface. Our drinks arrived, but there was no move to clean up the mess. Obviously nobody had noticed that there was a service call needing attention on our table. The waiter who brought our drinks left again and I was curious to see how long it would take for someone to attend to our service call. Too long, as we got tired of waiting and "manually" flagged the waiter down to clean up the spill. (In all fairness it was probably less than 10 minutes before he noticed the service call and returned to ask if we needed something, after he had already cleaned it up, but it really seems that the service call button is redundant.)

Cue food. My food. Only. All three of my courses arrived before any one of my husband's did. He watched me eat for half an hour before his first course was served, and his soup arrived last. Overall I found the food ok. The soup and sushi were good, but it is hard to get miso soup wrong, and as long as the ingredients are fresh, the same goes for a simple cucumber and salmon hosomaki. My vegetable noodles were a bit bland though, and I had to throw in my leftover soy sauce to give it a bit more flavour. Added to that, the lime that was served on top of my noodles (presumably to squeeze over the noodles) seemed to have been sitting around for a while, evidenced by the dried, browning rim around the cut edge of the skin. But I shouldn't complain, because at least I had food. Poor hubby was still waiting for his as I was finishing off my noodles. We had to ask (manually) two people where his food was before it finally arrived. Unfortunately his chicken and sweetcorn soup was not as good as my homemade one (true story) and his Korean BBQ chicken was average at best. Totally underwhelmed by this place.

At least getting the bill was quick, but suffice to say that I was not impressed by this restaurant at all and will not be returning.

P.S. At least the disappointment of this restaurant was counteracted somewhat by a huge piece of red velvet cake at the Hummingbird bakery, which has never disappointed me, and a cracking time at the Apollo Theatre watching Nell Gwynn, starring Gemma Arterton. Only a pity that we caught the last night of the run, as I would have recommended it to be seen. Maybe it will make a comeback some time.